Red Bull’s Max Verstappen topped the times in a truncated first free practice ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix.
The 19-year-old was the only man to set a time quicker than 1m49s around the wet Sepang circuit, finishing the session with a 1m48.962s. The lap time was seven tenths of a second quicker than team-mate Daniel Ricciardo who ended FP1 second quickest.
Rain delayed the start of the final Malaysian FP1 by half an hour and it was almost an hour after the scheduled start before the first lap time – a 1m55.601s from Ricciardo – came in. The track did dry slightly and lap times improved, but running was limited to wet and intermediate tyres.
Fernando Alonso took third fastest. He had been running the halo early in the session and spent a long time in the pits as the mechanics tried to detach it. The McLaren driver only managed six timed laps but his 1m50.597s was enough to put him ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were sixth and seventh fastest ahead of Lance Stroll.
Pierre Gasly made his Formula 1 debut in FP1 ahead of his first grand prix on Sunday. The Frenchman, who chose 10 as his race number, finished ninth fastest. He was two seconds faster than Sean Galael, who took over Carlos Sainz’s car for the session. Galael ended the morning 14th quickest.
Sergey Sirotkin, who was running in the practice session for Renault, finished 10th, a tenth of a second quicker than Jolyon Palmer in 11th.
Stoffel Vandoorne and Esteban Ocon finished 12th and 13th whilst Ocon’s Force India team-mate could only manage 15th quickest.
Charles Leclerc, driving a Sauber for the first time, finished 16th on the timings and four tenths of a second faster than Pascal Wehrlein. Haas’ Romain Grosjean and Antonio Giovinazzi took 18th and 19th at the bottom of the order.
Felipe Massa was the only man not to set a time with hydraulics problems cutting his session short.
